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Inequality in policy implementation: caste and electrification in rural India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

Michaël Aklin Open the ORCID record for Michaël Aklin [Opens in a new window] ,
Chao-Yo Cheng Open the ORCID record for Chao-Yo Cheng [Opens in a new window]  and
Johannes Urpelainen
Michaël Aklin*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Chao-Yo Cheng
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Tsinghua University, China
Johannes Urpelainen
Affiliation:
School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: aklin@pitt.edu
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Abstract

We examine unequal outcomes in the implementation of India’s national rural electrification program in Uttar Pradesh. We ask two questions: (1) to what extent did Dalits, the lowest group in India’s caste hierarchy, receive less attention when the state electrified rural communities? (2) Was BSP, the state’s Dalit party, able to reduce this inequality? Using data from a hundred thousand villages, we provide robust evidence for unequal outcomes. Villages inhabited solely by Dalits were 20 percentage points less likely to be covered by the program than villages without any Dalits. Moreover, a regression discontinuity analysis shows that the electoral success of BSP failed to reduce such differences. These results highlight the magnitude and persistence of caste inequality in the implementation of democratic public policy, despite political representation.

Keywords

casteDalitsdiscriminationenergy policyIndia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 331 - 359
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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